The Toaster Is Broken
by DarthRushy
Summary: Stuck in Pete's World, Rose believes that her Doctor is gone for good. However, a familiar blue police box shows up next to her house, carrying a friendly madman with a laser screwdriver who calls himself the Master.
1. Chapter 1

Rose Tyler was still alive. After all the hell she'd been through, most people would tell her to be glad.  
She was still alive. After all the hell she'd been through, she still wanted more. Needed more.  
And the universe does not say no to Bad Wolf...

* * *

On one of those ugly days when the heat of the sun and cold of winter past hit you together, Rose spent her time inside, learning how to play cricket. The Doctor had once told him during one of their numerous adventures that his fifth incarnation had been particularly skilled at the game.

After being trapped in Pete's World, Rose had developed a habit of gathering any memento and memory of the Doctor just to feel a little closer to the Time Lord in the other world.

So as she was reading the rules on the restored Internet, she heard a bizarre bubbling sound outside. She thought that it was nothing until the bubbling got stronger and Rose looked out the window from sheer curiosity.

It was the TARDIS. Blue and beautiful.  
"Doctor." she muttered and smiled so wide there was no end. "DOCTOR!" she screamed, running downstairs, past her father who tripped and fell down the stairs, utterly confused.

"DOCTOR!" she called again, as she ran towards the doors that would lead her to her tall and skinny Doctor, wearing a blue or pinstriped brown suit who would give the widest grin of all...

Before Rose could stop, however, the doors opened and Rose ran straight into the person who was going to come out, both landing straight in the TARDIS.  
"Whoa, I'm so sorry!" said Rose and then registered the guy below her.  
It was _not_ the Doctor.  
It wasn't even a man, more like teenager. The kid had short-cropped black hair and large ears and wore a black leather jacket...

"Would you mind getting off, lady?" he demanded in an irritated tone.

"Oh yeah..." mumbled Rose and got up. The TARDIS interior was vastly different. It was still yellow and round, but the design was much more luxurious than the original, with sofas and TV sets lying around. Rose thought she even spotted a Nintendo.

"So who are you?" asked the kid.

Rose turned back. "I'm Rose. Rose Tyler."  
The kid shook Rose's hand. "Hello, Rose Tyler. I'm the Master."


	2. Chapter 2

"The... Mas-ter?" sputtered Rose, lost.  
"Yeah. I mean, not your master or anything, it's just a name. And a title."

Pete and Mickey hurried out to the TARDIS. Mickey raised his eyebrows when he noticed the teenager next to Rose.  
"Whuh, has he regenerated again?"

"Again? Have I met you before?"

Mickey rolled his eyes. "I knew it. The guy can't even remember my name. I knew he'd forget me!"  
Rose hushed him. "You're the Master?"  
"Yep."

Seeing Rose and the others share worried expression piqued the kid's interest.  
"What about it? You're not my descendants, are you?" he asked, a bit scared.  
Mickey glared at him. "Do I look like your descendant, _Master_?"

"No, you look like an idiot."

Rose got between the two before the fight could've escalated and took Mickey away.  
"I don't think this is the Doctor from our world." she whispered.  
"So? He's not your age(not that he was to begin with), he's not gonna get you back to the Doc and he's definitely _not_ taking you to time travel."

Rose didn't answer. Instead, he introduced his father and Mickey.  
"Master, this is my dad, he's Pete Tyler and this is Mickey, my ex-boyfriend."

The Master shook their hands and gave a grin to Mickey. "Ex-boyfriend? I can see why you ditched him."  
"Oh you little pip-" started Mickey before Rose interrupted: "I've got a lot to tell you. Come on, we can talk inside."

* * *

The Master listened with both his ears as wide as possible(and since they were big to begin with, that's saying a lot).  
"So, you've been stuck here ever since the Doctor abandoned you?"

Rose didn't like his emphasis on the word abandon. "He had no choice."  
"More like no guts. I could've broken down that wall no problem."

She glowed: "You can?"  
"No." the Master recoiled. "I can't. No motive."  
"But I don't belong in this reality!" protested Rose. "I need to go home."

The Master cocked his head to the side and looked at Rose compassionately. "Rose, I sympathise but this is really not my business."  
He began tapping against the arm of the chair he was sitting on. "Besides, urgent matters call me. I don't know what the Doctor does in your reality, but in here, he's causing quite a ruckus."

Rose froze: "You're not... the Doctor?"  
_Tap-tap-tap-tap._  
The Master sighed: "So that's it? That's why you crashed me when I walked out the door? You thought I was the Doctor."  
"Yes. But if you're not him, why does your TARDIS look like a police box."  
The kid snorted. "I crashed it and couldn't be bothered to fix the chameleon circuit. Besides, I like it this way anyway. 1950s, **yeaaah**!"

Rose giggled. "So, can you take me to him?"  
The Master's face turned hard. "No."

"Why not?"  
"Well, he's... sort of... the... biggest criminal in Gallifreyan history."


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't buy that." said Rose in a firm tone.  
"You don't buy what?"

"The Doctor. He's not a criminal. In _any_ reality. He's a doctor."

The Master let out a melodic laugh that chilled Rose.  
"Yes, the man who helps people. Makes them better the way he sees it. By force, if necessary."  
Suddenly, the Master's serious expression returned and he closed in on Rose, stopping barely 5 centimeters from her.

"The Doctor is insane."  
_Tap-tap-tap-tap._  
"And he's dangerous."  
_Tap-tap-tap-tap._  
"And if you find him, he will not hesitate to hurt you."  
_Tap-tap-tap-tap._

"No way." husked Rose.  
"Yes way. Know why I call myself the Master? Because I master something he will never achieve... happiness. Just... flying around in a Type 40, eating your jelly babies and rocking the world."

Rose looked at him oddly. "And how do you manage that?"  
"I have a certain... rhythm in me. A drumming. A constant drumming. And as long as I hear those drums, I will never lose my ground."

Rose sat down and fell in thought, trying to take the whole thing in.  
"Look, Rosie... I can call you Rosie, can't I?"  
She didn't even flinch.  
"I'll take that as a yes. Rosie, I won't say I know what you and your Doctor had in that other world. After all, Time Lords rarely procreate with humans. However, if I will ever find a way to safely bridge the universes, you'll be the first to know."

With that said, the Master set himself to leave. He was almost away to his TARDIS without being noticed before a shrill voice froze him.  
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"  
It was Jackie Tyler, scorching him with laser eyes. She marched up to him and slapped him hard.  
"Ow! What was that for?!"  
"That's for leaving my daughter here and then showing up, looking like this!" She slapped him again.

The Master took out his screwdriver. "Stop it."  
Jackie slapped him again. "Or what? You're gonna shrill me to death with your sonic thingy?"  
The Master snorted. "Who'd have sonic?"

* * *

As the Master left Rose, her mind whirled around. She knew she couldn't just let him leave, but what was she supposed to do or say?  
The truth soon hit her however. If Pete Tyler could love another Jackie... maybe? Just maybe? But then, Rose heard a terrifying scream.

She ran outside to find an ancient woman wearing the clothes of her mother, lying on the ground. Rose raised her head to see the Master, lowering what Rose assumed was a sonic screwdriver.  
Her fury was so strong that her voice shivered: "W-w-what... did... you... do?!"

The Master was emotionless: "Nothing serious. She won't die on you any time soon. The laser screwdriver actually makes sure she's even healthier than before. A lovely 200 year old human."

"Why?!"  
"She slapped me!"  
Rose's voice became so shriek, she almost passed into ultrasound. "She _slapped_ you?!"  
"Multiple times. Hard. Not a very respectful behavior towards a TIME LORD, be it me or that horrid little imp with a moustache."

"Change her back!" demanded Rose.  
The Master rolled his eyes. "Oh very well." and clicked his screwdriver, causing Jackie to have horrific seizures, but ultimately, Rose's mother was back to normal.

"Judging by your mother, Rosie, it's not surprising that the Doctor chose you as his companion. See ya around."

The Master stepped into his TARDIS and was all set to leave to go someplace nicer. Like Barcelona.  
_Knock-knock-knock-knock!_  
Rose was pounding on the door.

The teenager opened it and without any words, Rose slipped in.  
"Uh... Rose? What are you doing?"  
"You will take me to the Doctor."

The Master let out a laugh. "What would possibly make me do that?!"  
Rose leaned towards him and was less than 5 centimeters from the Master.  
"_Bad Wolf._"  
"You can have the TARDIS key."


	4. Chapter 4

"Now... you will take me to the Doctor." ordered Rose.

The Master didn't seem to like the idea. "Rose... I'm afraid I can't do that."  
"Why not?!" asked Rose coldly.

"The Doctor is in asylum on the Kaled homeworld. Time Lords are forbidden to go there under the threat of extermination.  
"Lucky for us, I'm not a Time Lord. Now do it."

Instead of taking the controls, the Master went to a nearby fridge(2000s Earth style) and took out a plate of chicken leg and some tea.  
"What on earth are you doing?!" demanded Rose.

The Master tried to answer with his mouth full of chicken. "By rules originating on this very planet, I'm allowed to have a last meal. Besides, what's the hurry, this is a time machine."  
"You got any chips?"

"Back room. Fried and warm."  
"Thanks."  
As soon as Rose had left, the Master gulped tea and then began handling the controls, setting the destination to Gallifrey. Whoever wanted to deal with this upstart human who called herself _Bad Wolf_ could do so. In any case, it wasn't him.

"STOP!"  
The Master froze.  
"Reset the destination. We are going to Skaro."  
With a sigh, the teen complied. "Aye, aye, ma'am. Skaro it is."

The same odd bubbling noise that Rose had heard earlier began emanating from the TARDIS center and they were on their way.  
"By the way, these are the best chips I've ever had."  
"They're modified to be healthy." replied the Master.  
"Hm. When will we arrive?"

"In two hours. Now, I've set it to a time period immediately after the Doctor's arrival on the planet. I have a plan."  
"Really? Care to enlighten me?"

The Master explained: "We go to Skaro, take the Doctor and run."  
"And how will you deal with the Kaleds?"  
"I won't. You will. As you said yourself, you're human. You can just distract them. Grab the Doctor with this."  
He gave Rose a short-range teleporter.

"I'll have the TARDIS set and ready to go the moment you're onboard."  
"How will I find the Doctor?"

The Master smiled. "His TARDIS should be right next to ours."  
"Good plan. Now I know it's going to fail."  
"Oh I doubt it. What I'm worried about are the consequences."

"Such as?"  
"Such as Gallifrey having my hide for even thinking about this plan, much less setting it into motion. Such as having the Doctor onboard my TARDIS. Such as never being able to score a date again."

Rose laughed.  
"Oh, shut up you... Bad Wolf, sexy name by the way."


	5. Chapter 5

"Beg your pardon?!"

"What? I'm 900 years old, that's totally adult!"  
Rose rolled her eyes. "Just... focus on getting me in and out of there alive, okay?"  
"You got it."

Rose sat down on the nearby sofa and let her thoughts wander as the Master operated the consoles. She found herself once again missing her Doctor terribly. If anything the Master had said was true, getting this universe's Doctor back on the right track would be hard, potentially impossible. She was still keen to try, however.

The Master finished his work and continued with his final meal. Suddenly, Rose began to talk.  
"Why two hours?"  
"What?"  
"Why does it take two hours to get to Skaro. It took less time for the Doctor to cross a bajillion galaxies."

The Time Lord thought back to the old days. "The TARDIS was damaged during the Time War against the Cybermen. I never managed to get it wholly fixed."

The word Time War caught Rose's attention. "Time War? Who won?"

"We did, of course. It was touch and go there for a little while, with Nine Gallifreys and other crazy stuff happening. My favourite was when I crashed to the Cheetah Planet. Nasty place, but it kept me out of the War. After the Cybermen were absorbed by the Eridanus System, I was rescued by the Doctor. Back when he was nice. The poor guy never let it go. He thinks I betrayed him because I didn't return the favor, but hell, if returning the favor means scorching half of Sector Xanagon-23, then forget it, say I."

"Did you ever fight the Kaleds?"

"No, they're a relatively private people. Very dangerous if you get close to them, though. How the Doctor got them to accept him has been a big mystery on my homeplanet."

Rose nodded.

The TARDIS began rocking, spilling the Master's tea.  
"Oh heck!" The Master said, irritated.  
"What is it?"  
"Just a little turbulence."

Suddenly, the TARDIS seemed to hit a wall as everything, including the Master and Rose jumped up.  
"That's NOT turbulence!"  
"It's what you humans call deja vu. A glitch in space and time."

The console room began to swirl around.  
"We're in the center of it!" "We're in the center of it." repeated the Master in a loop.

Rose saw a ghostly man, wearing Victorian clothes, entering the TARDIS with another woman.  
"Who are they?!" yelled Rose.  
"Don't pay attention, they're from the past."

The Victorian man seemed rather distressed and was using something that looked like a red laser screwdriver to drill open a hole in the TARDIS console. Concentrating on the present, Rose saw the lines going around the hole that was now mended.

"Master? Why is this happening?!"

To Rose's great shock, the Master was gone. Another ghostly persona entered the room. There was still black in his hair, but grey was the dominative color. He had a big moustache and a diabolical smile on his face.  
"You won't escape me this time, Master."

"Don't underestimate me, Doctor." replied another ghost with an unbelievably long scarf. "You might be in control of the TARDIS, but I still have the advantage. I've got jelly babies!"

Rose felt herself turning dizzy, but tried to focus on the real Master, that handsome-looking guy who was trying to get her to return to the present. And she did.  
"Master?" she asked, trying to center her jittery vision.  
"I'm here, Rose. I'm here. It's over."

"I feel... sick." Rose collapsed.  
"ROSE!" called the Master, but she couldn't hear anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

Rose woke up in a huge four-post bed. She had a strong headache and even though the room wasn't lighted, her eyes couldn't stop blinking.  
"Master?" she asked dizzily.  
A robotic and very familiar voice came from under the bed. "Master is busy. May I serve you drinks?"

It was K-9, though his visor was green instead of red.  
"K-9! You... yes, of course. Drinks."

The tin dog dutifully rode off.

Rose took high notice of the fact that _someone_ had changed her clothes. She was in a sleeping gown. A new outfit consisting of a green military-style T-shirt and jeans and trainers rested on a chair at the other side of the bed.

"Drinks, miss Rose."

Rose took the glass from K-9's back. It looked like simple water, but it had to have been enhanced somehow since it woke Rose up quicker than an espresso.  
"Where is the Master?" she asked from K-9.  
"In the console room. I can lead you there."

Rose put on the outfit provided for her and followed the tin dog through the complex labyrinth of corridors, lighted with Victorian-style gas lamps and having sash windows that glowed orange. Even though she tried, Rose couldn't open them. This part of the TARDIS seemed unused, as if it hadn't been visited for a year or two.

However, soon the corridors turned back to the futuristic yellow that she was used to and sooner, she was even able to navigate her own way back. After all, she'd spent a long while in the Doctor's TARDIS and knew her way around this part.

"Rose!" called the Master, who was having breakfast. "I'm so glad to see you're okay!"  
He paused, to examine Rose.

"That shirt really, really takes your heat to a whole new level. You look fan-tastic!"  
"Master, stop it."  
"Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen anything as beautiful as you in 900 years. Absolutely fantastic!"

"Are we at Skaro?"  
The Master scoffed. "Oh, we are at Skaro ages ago. We're hiding in the sewers. I've set the perception filter to maximum, so the Kaleds won't be able to detect us for awhile. The problem is, since you were out, we couldn't go with Plan A."

"So what's Plan B?"  
"This."

The Master gave Rose a TARDIS key. "Put it around your neck. The key has a low perception filter which won't hide you from any scan, but it should be enough to get you around without being noticed. Unless you draw attention to yourself. I'll take one myself. We'll have a look around, find the Doctor, break him out, teleport back and scamper."  
"Right."

He ran back towards the sofa, stuffed a few pears in his fat handbag and put the TARDIS key around his neck.  
"Right, I'm all set."  
"What's in the bag?" asked Rose.

"Oh, a few necessities. I like to be packed in these cases. Shall we?"  
"One more thing: Who changed my clothes?"  
The Master sighed. "Rose..."  
"_Who_ changed my clothes?"  
"I wasn't looking."  
Rose slapped the Master and went outside.  
"Now I remember why I hate companionship."

The duo sneaked out of the TARDIS. There was no one around in the dark, stone corridors.  
"This place stinks!" complained Rose.  
"Rose, you're breathing in the feces of one of the most unknown species in this universe. This is an honor. Stop complaining."  
"You have a weird sense of honor!"  
"And a laser screwdriver. Want me to accelerate your sex drive?"

Rose moved on without replying.  
"What?!"

In about half an hour, the two found a ladder and climbed out to arrive in what they could only assume was the resequencing facility. Suddenly, two squids inside portable water tanks rolled past them.  
"These are the Daleks?" whispered Rose.  
"Kaleds, and yeah. Oh darn, I forgot my camera!"  
"Never mind the camera, where's the Doctor?"

"How should I know, I've never been here before!" protested the Master.  
"So we're just supposed to wander around the planet til we find him?!" demanded Rose.  
"Calm down, every species has some kind of a log on who goes where on their planet. All we have to do is find the Kaled equivalent of your Internet and we've got him."


	7. Chapter 7

"This way." The Master pointed at an archway that seemed to lead outside.  
"You sure?"  
"No."

The two sneaked through the archway and found themselves on the streets of Skaro. The Master smiled wide.  
"This is fantastic! The homeworld of the great Kaled Society. Add the pear..."  
The Master took out one of his pears and munched on it. He then continued.  
"... and you equals one, excited Time Lord."

Rose hit his shoulder. "We're here to find the Doctor, not sightsee."  
"And how are we gonna find the Doctor? Exactly, by sightseeing."

The Time Lord and his companion wandered around, remaining completely unnoticed by the Kaled squids in their rolling water tanks.  
"Master?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Is there a terminal where we can get into the Kaled network?" asked Rose.  
"Sure, they're all around. See?"

The Master pointed to what reminded Rose of a library. They went in there, waited until the Kaleds had cleared the panel and then the Master took out his laser screwdriver.  
"What are you doing?" questioned Rose.  
"I don't know Kaled controls, do you? I'm using the screwdriver to translate it into terms that Gallifreyans such as myself can telepathically comprehend and operate. Oh, this is fantastic stuff."  
The Master babbled on, taking no notice of Rose tugging onto his jacket.

"... the folks back home would love this, it's literally the entire knowledge of the Kaled race. And I'm going through it!"  
"Master."  
"... I mean, it's not as if we don't know about the Kaleds, we do, but this is enormous. I never knew Kaleds liked poetry so much!"  
"Master!"  
"... William Shakespeare, what are you doing in this computer?!" The Master laughed to emphasize the point.  
"MASTER!" said Rose loudly.  
"WHAT?!"

The Master turned around to face his fellow Time Lord.

* * *

Rose had only once seen the man in front of him before and that was during the deja vu incident in the TARDIS. He looked a lot older now, almost like a corpse.

"Doctor?" asked Rose weakly.  
"Ah, I see that you've spreaded my fame, Master." said the Doctor in a diabolical tone. His voice was withering, but controlled.

"Nah, actually we came here to find you. This fantastic girl here..."  
The Master moved behind Rose.  
"... is from a parallel universe."

"And you brought her here? I thought you were better than that, Master. Becoming a hypocrite, are we?"  
Suddenly, Rose turned towards the Master behind her.  
"You can travel between parallel worlds freely?!"

The Master looked embarrassed. "Well, technically I can't, I'm not in favor on Gallifrey, but... yeah."  
He looked away from Rose's Jackie Stare.

The Doctor laughed. "What other lies has he told? Perhaps that I'm insane? Or dangerous? My only purpose is myself, miss. All I'm trying to do is survive."  
The Master's expression darkened. "You tried to steal other lives to save your own."  
"The missteps of a panicked individual. Besides, they were no better than me."

Rose took a step towards the Doctor. "You're the Doctor."  
"Quite right."  
"Fine, stay with him." said the Master angrily. "He's nearly dead anyway."  
"What?"

The Doctor lowered his eyes. "I am at the end of my final regeneration. Close to death. Thank you for the reminder, Master." he wheezed.  
"Always welcome to make you feel worse, Doctor."  
The Master raised his laser screwdriver and turned it towards the Doctor. "In fact, let's speed things up a little, shall we?"


	8. Chapter 8

Rose stood between the Master and the Doctor.  
"No." she said firmly.  
"Rose, get out of the way."  
"I'm not gonna let you kill him!"  
"Yes, because he's so innocent. Do you have any idea how many murders he's committed? Execution is the only answer for him." said the Master.

Rose turned towards the Doctor, fearfully.  
"Is that true?" she demanded.  
"I have to do what I have to do to survive, lady." snarled the Doctor. "And so does the Master."  
"Shut up! Rose, get away from him." yelled the Master.  
"Don't tell me what to do!"

Suddenly, the trio were surrounded by Kaled tanks.  
"Arrest them!" commanded the Doctor.

* * *

"Fantastic. We had a shot at taking down the Doctor and you ruined it." blamed the Master.  
"He was still a living being. If my Doctor has taught me anything, it's not to kill."  
"Must be a bloody good Doctor you have there."

Rose rested her face on her hands and dreamed of being back on her TARDIS, with her Doctor and not a care in the world...  
They would finally visit Barcelona, the Doctor would show her around and round and then they would meet a terrifying alien... the Doctor would babble and babble and wave around his _sonic_ screwdriver and get her out of danger and then they would laugh at it and whoosh off to another adventure...

The wonderful dream was interrupted by the Master shaking her up.  
"Good morning, Rosie. It's 3:59 AM if you must know and we've got four hours to our trial."  
"What trial?" mumbled Rose dreamily.

"A trial you're going to miss. We need to find a way out. They took my screwdriver and bag, blast them, but there's got to be something."  
The Master ran around the prison cell hyperactively til Rose stopped him.  
"What are you so afraid of?"

"Me? Nothing."  
Rose stared at him til he broke.  
"Oh fine. For one, extermination. For two, the Time Lord council. For three, a new scheme of the Doctor's. I don't suppose you have any sexy Bad Wolf powers to get us out, do you?"  
"I don't know." said Rose.

"Well, if you do, now would be a good time. Because I do not want to waste my last five lives just because I was dumb enough to pick up a stupid ape."  
"_What_ did you call me?!"  
"A stupid ape. I'm at my prime and look! Here comes Bad Wolf! I don't know who or what she is, but being the usual brilliant me, I want to help and what do I get? A human morality lesson and four wasted regenerations!" ranted the Master.

Rose slapped him.  
"Don't push me. If we die, I'll accelerate your sex drive real big and then you're all mine."  
"If we die, I'll make sure we go to separate heavens then."

The Master sat down in a corner, muttering to himself.  
"Why is he like that?" Rose asked, curious.  
"What? Who?"  
"The Doctor. Why is he... like he is?"

"I don't really know." replied the Master. "He was good a few regenerations ago, real good. Then he started thinking a lot. About his life and achievements and all the other sort blah, blah, blah. By the time he was in this version, all he wanted was to live on. He thinks that my friendship with him wasted his other lives and now he wants mine and anyone else's so he can do big stuff. Like ruling the universe."

"He was your friend... yet you wanted him dead."  
"He took something from me."  
Rose sat down next to the Master at the corner. "What did he take?"  
"I have no idea. I suffered amnesia shortly after it happened. All I know is that there was something or someone important and now it's gone. I can't even miss it because I don't remember. Most of the time, it's at the back side of my head, but you... you brought it out again, Bad Wolf."

Rose snickered at the nickname and moved closer to the Master.

"So what do you do? Just fly around alone?"  
"I've tried to bring people aboard, but it never really worked for me. My favourite was the time I obtained that T-shirt(don't ask). I vowed that if someone really really hot and really really nice ever came aboard, I'd give her that."

Rose rested her head on the Master's shoulder.  
"And here we are. 3 and a half hours away from death. Magnificient."  
"But we're not gonna die, are we?"

The Master touched Rose's chin and raised her head.  
"I know I've made mistakes. Tons of 'em. Your mom, the Doctor and other stuff. But... I am NOT going to make a mistake with you."  
On impulse, he passionately kissed Rose.

And Rose... loved every second of it.


	9. Chapter 9

The Master's eyes opened mid-kiss and he quickly pulled away from Rose who was left in a dreamy state.  
"What are we doing?" he asked.  
Suddenly, Rose's eyes flitted open and she realized what was going on.  
"Wait, what _are_ we doing?!"  
"Something's affecting us."  
"Some kind of a drug..."  
"Yeah..."  
"Definitely.."

The Master rose up and started sniffing the air. Then he chuckled.  
"Kor'ak aphrodisiac. I should've noticed."

Rose was furious. "Then why didn't you?!"  
"I'm sorry, I was a bit busy trying to find a way out. I may be a Time Lord, but I can't multitask."  
"Why would the Kaleds want us to... you know...?"  
"One, not the Kaleds, two, probably to distract us til the trial. The Doctor knows I have a penchant for escape."

The Master turned around: "So, what we have to do now is ignore our magnetic field and concentrate on getting out."  
"Uh, Master...?"  
"What?"  
"I'm up here."  
The Master looked up from Rose's chest.  
"Oh, right. Sorry."

The two started looking around the room, trying to figure a way out and subconsciously avoiding each other.  
Rose touched around the walls quietly. The Master tapped the ever-familiar rhythm against his right temple.

Then he remembered something. "Rose, what do you have under your shirt?"  
Rose rolled his eyes. "Master..."  
"No, not _that_, the necklace!"

Rose felt around his neck and realized she was still wearing the TARDIS key.  
"What good will that do for us?" she asked, curiously.  
"If we find a good enough power source, we can use the TARDIS keys to summon the ship to us. And then we can get the hell out of Dodge."  
"What about the Doctor?"  
"We'll go back to Plan A."

Suddenly, the Master threw his key against the lamp up at the ceiling, cracking it.  
"Rose, come here. I'll get you up so you can pull the lamp off. Then, attach the live wire with your key."  
"Won't I get electrocuted?"  
"Maybe, I dunno. But it's that or nothing."

The Master pushed Rose up to the ceiling, where she hit the lamp with her key, til it came loose and fell to the floor. Then, she took the wire and placed the key right to it. Suddenly, the key lit up!

Rose fell down right into the Master's arms as the TARDIS materialized around them.  
"You can let go of me now."  
"Awww."

The Master set a new time period and location for the TARDIS and sent the police box into the Time Vortex whilst laughing.  
"FAN-TASTIC!"  
"Where are we going?!"

"To the Doctor's quarters. I went through more than Kaled poetry when we examined the database."  
"So we can teleport him here?"  
The Master clicked his tongue in return.

* * *

The Doctor returned into his quarters, satisfied with the capture of his most hated enemy. He had been a good man(and Time Lord) once, a decent fellow. And then the Master came with his TARDIS to attack him. Again and again.

The Doctor never knew why the Master hated him so much, but the minuscule Time War between the two led him to understand the fragility of life and thus began his journey towards immortality.  
A journey that had to be completed soon. Very soon. The Doctor was at the end of his final life. He knew how to obtain a new set, but for that, he required the TARDIS of the Master which was hidden somewhere on Skaro, undetected. The Doctor had sent out Kaleds to find it, but they had had no luck so far.

The Doctor felt tired. Yes, tired. He laid down to his bedsheets and hoped he had enough strength to open them again tomorrow.  
Suddenly, a whirlwind seemed to enter his chambers. He got up to see the impossible.  
The TARDIS. In his quarters.

The old Time Lord grabbed his cane and got up, but the doors opened before he could get to them and Rose Tyler, the Master's companion grabbed his hand with a teleporter.  
"NO!" he yelled in frustration.


	10. Chapter 10

With a flash, the Doctor and Rose appeared inside the TARDIS prison cell. Being younger, Rose was able to quickly get through the doors and lock them before the Doctor could get any close.  
The bubbling sound told the Doctor that they were on the move again.

The Master walked in.  
"Happy now?" the Doctor called.  
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this, Doctor." replied the Master happily. He turned to Rose. "Look after the consoles for me, will you?"

Rose nodded and left the two Time Lords alone.  
"You haven't told her, have you?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"Well, you said she was the Bad Wolf. What does it mean, anyway?"  
The Master snorted.

"I don't know. I just brought her aboard cause she looked good. I mean, when was the last time _you_ got the girl?"  
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "So how will you do it?"  
"Oh, I'm still thinking. Has to be something really, really horrible, you know. After what you did."  
"Funny how neither of us can remember it."

The Master drew closer to the Doctor.  
"Don't lie to me, Doc-tor. I'm not insane."  
He started tapping against his leg.

* * *

Rose Tyler sat alone in the main room, her face in her hands. Things were not going well.  
"What am I doing?" she wondered. Her plan to get the Doctor to turn back to goodness seemed impossible and futile, considering how close he was to death and how long he'd been evil.  
Getting back to her original Doctor was not an option.

She was stuck.

The Master walked in and found Rose deep in her thoughts. He didn't want to disturb her and just got on with working on the TARDIS controls, setting a new destination.  
"Where are we going?" Rose asked.

"An uninhabited planet in the Abzor system. Basically, we're going on break."  
Rose smiled. "That sounds nice right about now."

The Master grabbed a pear from a nearby fruit plate and offered the plate to Rose who took a banana.  
"You're gonna love it." continued the Master. "Volcanoes and waterfalls and a _lot_ of rainbows. Lovely place. No air though. We'll have to enjoy ourselves close to the TARDIS."

The TARDIS landed with a soft thump and the Master opened both doors to Rose.  
Rose gasped. "It's beautiful!"

The sky was a deep red and was contrasted by the water all around them. The TARDIS was standing on a rock that pierced the sea. As the Master had promised, exotic rainbows arched in every direction.

"Now that is what I call alien." said Rose.  
The Master winked at her.

* * *

Suddenly, the waters around them began to boil.  
"What-what's happening?"

The Master ran around the TARDIS, shocked.  
"MAAAASTER!" screamed Rose.

A gigantic dragon-like creature rose from the sea and spread its wings to fly towards the TARDIS.  
"ROSE, GET IN, GET IN NOW!" yelled the Master and pushed her in shortly before closing the doors.

Rose tried to catch her breath. "You could've told me... about... that."  
"I don't understand. This planet is supposed to be uninhabited, these waters are meant to be cleaner than the most purified water on your planet! Nothing lives here!"

"A giant killer dragon does!" retorted Rose.  
"It had to have come from someplace else."  
"Did somebody turn the heat up?"

The Master felt it. The temperature was rising rapidly in the TARDIS.  
"It's breathing fire, trying to roast us."  
"Doesn't the TARDIS have shields?!"  
"Yes and the fact that they can withstand temporal paradoxes and not a killer dragon is what worries me!"  
"Then let's get out of here." suggested Rose.

The Master started to flick buttons and pull levers, but instead of the bubbly sound, there was the sounds of bubbles popping.  
"Now what?!" demanded Rose.  
The Time Lord groaned. "The dematerialization circuit is stuck, I'm gonna have to repair it.

Rose started to feel sweat on her forehead. "Hurry up before we burn."  
The Master reached into his pocket before realizing there was nothing there. "Looks like I'm gonna have to go hands free."


	11. Chapter 11

The Master wiped the sweat beads off his forehead and threw off his fuming jacket. Using a needle and a nail, he was trying to unstuck the circuitry.  
"I don't get it. It's almost as if the whole thing was fused, but it ain't. Why won't it work? And what's wrong with the shields?"

"I feel like boiling." mumbled Rose from the floor.  
Suddenly, the console sparked and hit the Master with an electrical surge.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" yelped the Master and jumped around the console room.  
"You okay?!"  
"I'll live." He wiped his forehead again. "I don't think this is an ordinary dragon. It shouldn't be affecting the TARDIS the way it is."  
"Why don't you ask the Doctor?"

The Master blinked. "Rose, you are a genius!"

* * *

"Well?"  
The Doctor rolled his eyes and tried to breath properly in the heat of a really hot sauna. "Well what?"  
"What'd ya do? I mean, it's not everyday that a fire-breathing dragon who can affect the TARDIS shows up at the same time as the dematerialization circuit fails miserably. So what's going on?"

"If I had anything to do with this, do you think I'd still be in this oven?"  
"I'm not gonna ask you again: What did you do?"  
"Nothing!"

Already exhausted and a little sunburnt, the Master lost his patience and opened the cell door. With no warning, he started pounding the Doctor.  
"WHAT! DID! YOU! DO?!" he yelled in rhythm with his hits.  
Being old and fragile, the Doctor put up no resistance and let the Master beat him into a bloody pulp.

The Master felt no compassion towards his old friend. He had started the rivalry, he broke the TARDIS and threatened him and Rose, he had become arrogant! The fury flowed through his blood, giving him more and more strength to beat and beat and beat. He even forgot the reason why he did it. The horrible years, the Doctor's schemes and the robbery of something so infinitely precious to him flashed through the Master's mind.

He killed the Doctor. There were no heartbeats, no drumming.

Silence.

The Master stood up, looking down at his mangled foe and his own bloody hands.  
"And it was said that the Doctor was no more. And I looked down upon my fallen enemy and thought it... good."  
It was time to change. Time for the drums to go.

* * *

After cleaning up, the Master returned to the console room, where Rose was babbling deliriously on the floor. The Master had nearly forgotten about the heat and went back to fixing the dematerialization circuit, only to find it already fixed.  
_Who did that?_  
The TARDIS bubbled happily and vanished from the burning fire. The Master set the temperatures back to optimum and dragged Rose away for a lovely cold shower.


	12. Chapter 12

After leaving Rose to cool down, the Master cleaned up the Doctor's remains and threw them into Earth's atmosphere in the year 1963. He chose the year specifically as that was the year that the Doctor first began meddling with humans.

The Master toasted to the streak of light that burned above the planet. "Fantastic."

During the old days in the Academy(waaaay back on Gallifrey), the Doctor had told him that his legend would be known from the Big Bang to the end of the universe. Yet now, the Master mused, whenever someone heard the name Doctor, they'd all react the same way.

"Doctor Who?"

The Master pushed an old, creaky lever on the TARDIS console into a new place and the ship jumped back into a Time Vortex, heading for an unknown destination.  
As that went on, he opened up the panel below the console and started pulling out crystals and wires, trying to determine the cause of the dematerialization circuit breakdown and equally importantly, why the shields did not defend the TARDIS from something as insignificant as fire.

* * *

Rose woke up with a shock in cold water, her hands and legs all colored red from the heat. She put on her old clothes(thanking the heavens that the Master hadn't bothered to undress her _again_) that her Time Lord "friend" had left in the shower room and wiped the water off with some towels.

She hurried into the console room and found the Master working there.  
"What happened. How'd we get away?" she asked.

"I don't know. The systems seem fine. No hint or record of a breakdown."  
"Could the Doctor have caused it?"  
The Master smiled. "No. The Doctor was in his cell the whole time."  
"You asked him?"

"Yeah, I asked him and I'm convinced he told me the truth."  
Rose nodded and headed for the kitchen.  
"Get me some pears, will ya?" the Master yelled as she left.

The TARDIS landed shortly after, disrupting the Master's work, but he knew the problem did not lay in the ship anyway so no harm done. He put back his still-heated jacket and hoped the weather outside would be cool. Opening the doors, the Master came across what could only be described as a metropolis of industry.

Giant skyscrapers dominated the planet(so high that the bottom could not be seen) with roads and playgrounds and trees all growing from them. It vaguely reminded the Master of New New New Earth, but the sight was made sinister by the absolute lack of sound or people anywhere around.

The planet appeared to be deserted. The grass and the trees had become thick and the buildings were rather rusty.  
Rose approached the Master and handed him a pear which the Time Lord thankfully accepted.  
"Where are we?"  
"Planet..."  
The Master ran back in to check the console.  
"... Barcelona. Wait, that can't be right."


	13. Chapter 13

The name Barcelona sent Rose's thoughts back in time to the Ninth Doctor and his... leather jacket. And short hair. And the big ears.  
All traits which the Master happened to possess.  
But how? Was he the Doctor of this universe under a different identity? Not likely, judging by the way he non-chalantly lasered her mother.  
"You coming?" called the Master.

Rose followed the Master inside the dirty hallways that led to an abandoned old stockmarket. The Master groaned.  
"Shops! So many shops and no one here. Come on, now that's just not fair."  
Rose took quick notice that there was nothing but different liquids for sale. "Is this an alcohol market?" she asked.

The Master sampled one of the bottles. "No. Tea, I think."  
Rose frowned. "A tea market?"  
"A tea market. What's it called anyway?" The Master took a pair of glasses out of his pocket and examined the bottle very closely.  
"Huh. No name. What kind of a tea doesn't have a name?" he said and gently lowered the bottle back into a box.

He turned around, but Rose was gone.  
"Rose? Rose?!"  
The Master rolled his eyes. "It's always the same." he muttered. "No one ever listens to you, whether you're 9 or 90 or 900."

He went back outside, but the pretty blonde was nowhere to be seen amongst the labyrinth of platforms and towers.  
"ROSE?! WHERE DID YOU GO?!"  
"Would you care for some tea?" said a sudden voice behind him, causing the Master to jump away, trip and fall several stories before he grabbed ahold of a conveniently placed pipe sticking out the wall. He still had nowhere to place his legs though. The Master looked up.  
"Look, whoever you are, would you mind helping?"

He couldn't exactly make out the face of the figure above who replied: "Sure, I'll get you a horse." and vanished.  
"What?!"

This was _not_ the Barcelona trip he'd imagined.

Suddenly, he found himself sitting on a floating, robotic horse. After letting go of the pipe, the Master hovered back above and the horse dropped him to his original position where he faced a timid, sick-looking hobo.  
"And who might you be?" asked the Master from the hobo.  
"A survivor, you might say, good sir."  
"A survivor of what?"

The hobo looked around in deep fright and whispered into the Master's ear: "_The Dragon._"

* * *

The Master returned into the TARDIS and began scanning the planet immediately. He picked up three lifeforms: A Time Lord, a Barcelonan(the old guy) and one more that the TARDIS could only compare to another Time Lord.  
That had to be either Rose or the Dragon. If it was the same one that they encountered in the Abzor system and it was likely, then the Master had a problem. I mean, it's not every day that he gets tracked through the Time Vortex by what seemed to be a brainless creature.

But where was Rose? Did the Dragon get her? Where was the Dragon? And how did he disable the TARDIS? And who fixed it anyway?


	14. Chapter 14

The Master tapped against his forehead impatiently until he remembered something. "The TARDIS key! Of course! I just have to scan for the low-level distortion!"

With the scan, he was easily able to pinpoint the key's location as being surprisingly far from the TARDIS and in mid-air. He messed with the controls a little and sent the TARDIS right to the key(a reverse of their escape from Skaro), causing a table to materialize in the ship. On the table was the key and some candy. All that Rose had been carrying.

The Master checked the monitor to see that the immediate surroundings of his time and space ship was a bizarre psychedelic image of ginormous green paint drooping around.  
"What?" asked the Master from no one, lost.

"K-9, watch the ship." he said and ventured out. The outside looked just like the inside. The Master had no idea what he was even standing on.  
"Who puts a table in the middle of... this?"  
He ventured further and confronted another police box. Turning around, his original box had disappeared. The Master carefully opened the TARDIS and quickly realized it was his own.

Mind games.

The Master tried leaving again, but arrived back at the ship.  
"There's nowhere to go."  
Shocked, the teenager whirled around to confront the toothy grin of the Doctor.

* * *

"No. You're dead. I killed you."  
"You only saw what I wanted you to see. After I was 'gone', you lowered your defenses for the first time on a subconscious level. Very foolish. It was a simple matter of hacking in and placing in your head the delusion of Rose Tyler."  
The Master's face contorted in anger.

"Oh no you don't! I know she existed. I'm a Time Lord."  
"You're an embarrassment." replied the Doctor scornfully. "You have spent the last four of my lives hunting me for a crime I did not commit. The Time Lords may have shunned me, but they look down upon you as well."  
"Like I care. Now where's Rose?"

The Doctor sighed. "I told you already, we made her up. And by we, I mean me and the Kaleds."  
"You expect me to believe I'm still on Skaro?"

"Yes."  
"Well I don't."  
"That's your mistake."

The Master walked back into his TARDIS, but the blue doors only opened back into the room to the Doctor.  
"Who's the Time Lord now?" asked the Doctor playfully.  
"Dead or not, you're still old and weak. The inevitable is still approaching."  
"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Look, Doc, I'll make you a good deal. Give me Rose, and I'll let you go. This time."  
The Doctor examined the Master's face. "Even is she existed... and I'm not saying she is... why would you do that?"  
"I like her. And you're past tense anyway, so why should I bother?"

The Doctor gave a chilling grin. "Cause if you do, I'll let her go."  
"What?"  
"I challenge you to kill me. If you do, you'll get Rose Tyler back. If not, you're both lost."

"I thought Rose wasn't real?"  
"Am I?" asked the Doctor quietly and disappeared into the green sludge in the 'background'.  
"Doctor?"

The Master tried to find the Doctor, but he was just gone. He ran back to his TARDIS and locked it down.

"Right. K-9, battle plan! Get me everything we've got, everything!"

He himself grabbed a chess board, a bowl of pears, his old toolbox(last used by his seventh incarnation), his old NES and a toothpick whilst K-9 brought a huge crate of junk(not literally) that had gathered dust in the TARDIS for years.

* * *

**Ok, I know this chapter(and the rest of the story) can be confusing, but I swear I'll explain things in time. The Dragon, Barcelona, the old hobo guy, the Doctor etc. will all get proper conclusion. **


	15. Chapter 15

The Master hated mysteries. That was part of the reason he was traveling in the first place, to uncover everything he did not know. As he weighed and examined the various objects he possessed and decided what to take, he thought about everything that had recently happened.

Why had he let Rose Tyler into his TARDIS so easily? Well, curiosity of course, but if he was curious, why hadn't he asked the meaning of Bad Wolf? Whoever he had spoken to outside, he was right: the Master was an embarrasment. He should've been more careful.  
And who was that guy, anyway? He knew it wasn't the Doctor because he did not feel like a Time Lord.

Well, now's the time for answers. The Master smiled content when he heard a whirr and a click behind him and stood up from the floor.  
His new laser screwdriver was finally ready. The Master examined it and noted the sleeker, more advanced style. Unlike his previous, bulkier weapon, this one didn't have tacked-on Lazarus technology. But he didn't really miss it anyway. The top of the screwdriver was blue-ish purple.  
"Thanks, old girl." he said and patted the TARDIS console.

Repairing his other tools(most of which he'd discarded ages ago) was a lot faster with laser. The job only took about four hours and then he had an arsenal ready.  
K-9 rolled to him, loyal as ever. "What is the battle-plan, Master?" he asked innocently.

"Well, for starters, we're gonna get some bearings straight." He jumped up and set new coordinates outside the psychedelic room. The TARDIS was unusually resistant against his commands and refused to budge.  
"Come on now, what's the problem?" he muttered and banged against the rotors, without luck. "Don't tell me your circuits fused again."

He checked under the controls and to his immense frustration, that happened to be just the case. "Okay, now that's just a conspiracy."

* * *

Rose woke up, lying on grass, real grass. "Doctor?" she asked instinctively, forgetting her predicament.  
"Better."  
She recognized the happy-go-lucky voice straight away.  
"Jack?"  
Jack Harkness grinned at him from the shadows. The two seemed to be in a field, but it was night.  
"Where are we? How'd you get here?"  
"I updated my vortex manipulator. Long story. I'm here to bring you home."

Rose felt a little overwhelmed by the news to say the least. "R-really?"  
"Well, if you'd like, we could stay at my place. I'm sure I could make some room in my bed for ya."  
"Don't even go there. I got enough of that from the _Master_." She exaggerated the name to point out how ridiculous it sounded.  
Jack seemed curious at that. "The Master? He's with you?"  
"Yeah, we... I mean he helped me after I got stuck."  
"Oh really. Did he say anything about the Doctor?"

"Yeah... we locked him up. This universe's version, I mean." replied Rose, perplexed at Jack's odd questions.  
"Well, what if I told you he's dead."  
"Dead?"  
"Dead. Kaput. Gone. Kicked the bucket."  
Rose's mind went a thousand miles per second. "Which one?"  
Jack rolled his eyes. "The one you caught, of course. Tossed him out into Earth atmosphere."  
"The Master wouldn't do that."  
"You've only traveled with him for 48 hours, how would you know?"  
Now Rose was starting to get suspicious. Jack would've brought her home instantly, not taken a trip down falsified memory lane.

"Who are you?"  
"What do you mean? I'm Captain Jack Harkness and who might you be?"  
Got him! "I'm Rose. Now why would you ask that?"  
Jack laughed, but in a dead way. "It's my catchphrase."  
"Why are you asking all these questions?"

"Because I want to know the answers."  
"Why?"

Jack opened his mouth, but was interrupted when the dark behind him was literally torn in half and the TARDIS flew through the crack. The Master opened the doors mid-flight and grabbed Rose's arm.  
"Gotcha!"

Jack transformed into the Dragon and roared fire at the two.

* * *

Rose could hardly catch her breath when the Master pulled him into the timeship and hurried back to navigate it. The console room was a mess, it smelled of ozone and weird gadgets(and plates of food and drink) were lying about everywhere. To make matters worse, the TARDIS was tumbling around and all that stuff flew around.  
The Master didn't seem to matter though.

"Rose, normally I'd never ask this, but could you help me fly this thing?"  
Rose blinked in surprise, but then gave an affirmative and did whatever her Time Lord friend asked.  
"... now pull that lever, _slowly_ that's a modified schism device and I do not want the CIA after me again!"  
"The CIA?" asked Rose, wondering what they had to do with him.  
"The Celestial Intervention Agency! On Gallifrey! You can't even imagine the amount of paperwork I had to do to keep it! But it's wonderful in breaking delusions such as this one."

After saying that, he finally hit a pedal with his foot and the consoles sparked and caught on fire.  
"We're going to die!" yelled Rose, all pumped up on fear.  
"Fantastic!"  
"HOW IS THAT FANTASTIC?!"

The Master hugged her. "Don't you see? Dying is the one thing the Dragon will not expect or let us do. He'd rather let us go safely for now."  
He ran back to the doors and opened them up, revealing the psychedelic colors again. Even though the console room rolled around as if they were moving, the outside room seemed perfectly still. The Master yelled at the vision.  
"Come on you, you old cat, throw us out already!"

Suddenly, Rose's eyes cleared as if a fog left from around them. "Are we out?"  
The Master nodded grimly.  
"Oh yes, but now it's time to go in."


	16. Chapter 16

Rose hugged and kissed the Master on the cheek as thanks for rescuing him.  
"Now tell me... what the hell was that place we left from, why do we have to go back and who's after us?"  
"As I said earlier, it was Barcelona. The projection chambers of Barcelona to be exact. In the old days, they were used for entertainment and relaxation, but someone a.e. the Dragon has taken control over the planet."  
"The... Dragon?" blinked Rose.

"Yes, the same thing that attacked us back in the Abzor system. It's tracking us through time and space and that's also why we can't leave. It'll be there before we would arrive. We need to face this thing right here."  
Rose wasn't convinced. "But who? Who is the Dragon? Is he another Time Lord you rubbed the wrong way?"

The Master snorted. "I already told you he isn't a Time Lord, Rose. But I do believe he's after me because I'm one. This isn't personal. You see, earlier he asked me to hunt him. And that's it. He wants to play a game and he won't stop until either side wins or until I get whatever he uses to track us."

Rose didn't really understand but hoped the Master can deal with it. He remained her only key back to her Doctor, back to sanity.  
And since when was traveling in the TARDIS sane?  
Pete's World had utterly changed Rose's perception of reality in these last few days. She wanted out, but the more she struggled, the more she was drawn in.  
And that's when an idea hit her.

"Can you take me to Gallifrey?"  
That seemed to surprise the Master. "Gallifrey? Well, yes, I suppose.."  
"And can't they deal with the Dragon?"  
"Technically, they could, but they'd lock me up for about, oh, a hundred years for making such a mess."

Rose didn't really care how this world worked, but knew enough that Gallifrey had the way to return her to her universe while the Master alone did not.  
"Take me to Gallifrey."  
"No."

Rose drew closer to the Master, very close.  
"_Bad Wolf._" she breathed.  
"Nice try." grinned the Master and got back to work. He absent-mindedly kept drumming against the console. Why couldn't the blasted noise just get out of his head? Usually it soothed him, but right now it was in the way like the ticking of the clock when you tried to sleep.

"You do know what the Bad Wolf is?" asked Rose, feeling superior.  
"No. Should I?"  
"Yes, you should because it's the Time Vortex."

_That_ caught the Master's ears. "What?" he asked.  
"The Time Vortex. All of it, together, inside me. The ultimate schism."  
The Master's mouth fell open. "What?"

Rose smiled. "Now take me to Gallifrey."  
The Master weighed this new knowledge in his head. The Bad Wolf would be of obvious scientific importance to the High Council. Perhaps important enough to amend bringing the Dragon to his homeplanet? Perhaps.

"Alright then, Rose Tyler. Let's take you to... hmm, Borusa era? Yeah, that's when humans were still allowed."  
He set in the new coordinates, but the TARDIS did not start bubbling.  
"Oh, not _again_!" yelled the Master and in utter frustration, shot a laser beam at his own ship, intentionally hurting it.

The TARDIS tried to let her pain be known through Rose and used a lingering subconscious link from her time as the Bad Wolf to send her feelings to her.  
Rose screamed in pain and clutched her head. "You're hurting her! She's just trying to help! STOOOOP!"  
"THEN TELL HER TO WORK!" shouted the Master back. He grabbed a spanner from nearby and hit it against the console.  
"Get-it-to-work! Get-it-to-work! Get-it-to-work! GET IT TO WORK!"  
"Please stop!" pleaded the TARDIS through Rose, who was already knocked out by the pain.

"Oh no! I am your Master, the Master and we are going to Gallifrey **NOW**!  
Using the last of her strength, the TARDIS physically ripped the circuit apart and sent herself to Gallifrey. And at that point, she lost control.  
Rose Tyler's body fell to the floor, but the crazed Time Lord was too busy trying to get them to their destination in one piece. The TARDIS fell out of the Time Vortex just a bit too early and began crashing towards the planet.

Right before it hit the atmosphere though, it was caught in the beams of two guarding SIDRAT's(Space in Dimensional Relativity and Time) who gently lowered it into the Citadel, directly to the High Council's chamber. There, the Master, Rose and K-9 were literally spat out of the doors and the TARDIS began internal repairs.

The Master cringed. He sincerely hoped his ship would forgive him, but the urgency was worth it.

Lord President Rassilon(they'd arrived in the wrong time) looked down upon him. "Lord Master, companion and servant. What could possibly be so important in these peaceful times that you must so rudely barge in?"

The Master stood up, indignant. "One, there's a time-traveling dragon chasing me and two, this girl..." he pointed at Rose. "... looked into the heart of the TARDIS and survived. Her Gallifreyan name is the Bad Wolf."  
Rassilon glanced at her coldly. "Only Time Lords carry names."

"Oh, and she's from a parallel universe. Things might be different there, my lord."  
"Take her to the neutrino scanner." ordered Rassilon and the guards carried Rose away.

The Master sent K-9 after her to make sure she was fine.  
Rassilon gestured for the Master to sit down in front of the Council. It was time to explain.


	17. Chapter 17

Rose awoke to find herself lying on a warm examination table. Her head was mercilessly pounding from the mental pressure of having the TARDIS communicate through her body.  
The scientists who were scanning her, told her to be calm and patient. Rose gasped a little when she realized that she was literally on Gallifrey, _the _Gallifrey.

Her Doctor's homeplanet that he'd missed so much. She wondered if the Doctor could come to this reality instead of the other way around. He could leave behind the Time War and the Daleks and all the other horrors...

Also, Rose felt that he was the best one to help the Master get past his selfishness. They had much in common, but the Master had a streak of cruelty that he tapped into every now and then.  
As she was thinking, the Master himself walked into the infirmary. "Rose! Great to see you! You've been out for a whole day, I was worried sick!"

Rose glared daggers at him. "You nearly killed your TARDIS! And me!"  
"I didn't have much choice." The Master tried to explain. "We had to get away from the Dragon who still hasn't shown up, by the way. I'm a little stressed about that as well. Could it be that he doesn't want to interfere with the Empire, but then why would he let us go so easily?" said the Master. Suddenly, he changed his frown into a familiar manic grin. Then, the Master started speaking in a thick northern accent.

"Anyway, fantastic to see you coming around. Hungry?"  
Rose had an ugly feeling in her gut. "What's with the northern accent?"  
"A lesson from the Rani, Rose: lots of planets have a North."

_So that's why he looked so familiar at the time! _groaned Rose mentally. The jacket, the ears, the hair. It had been so obvious, but Rose had traveled with a different Doctor for several years now and had almost forgotten the old Doctor with the bananas and the leather. The Master was the equivalent of the Doctor in this reality. Well, sort of.

_So does that mean that the Master in my world is an evil goatee villain like the Doctor here? Hang on, where's the Doctor?_  
"What did you do with the Doctor?" asked Rose.

The Master's grin disappeared and in a millisecond, his brilliant Time Lord brain calculated the most believable answer. "He did not survive the crash. I'm sorry. He had been near death anyway."  
Rose wanted to feel sorry for the old Time Lord, but she really couldn't. He wasn't the man she was looking for.  
But neither was this arrogant youngster.

* * *

Despite having completed its regeneration hours ago, the TARDIS didn't show the slightest intent of ever letting the Master in her again. To his further annoyance, she refused to be moved by anyone and was stuck in the Council Chamber until Rassilon himself commanded the ship to obey, at which point she materialized to the TARDIS cargo hold, where new TARDISes awaited their new assignments. This signified that the ship no longer considered itself owned by anyone.

The Master was considering stealing himself a new TARDIS, but was too nostalgic to leave the old one. He had also thought of trying to break the deadlock with his laser screwdriver, but that would likely worsen matters. Thus, the Time Lord had no choice but to stay put until he could get his ship to be reasonable. Well, at least it was a comfortable era. The Golden Age of Gallifrey. Too bad his family house hadn't been built yet, he had to stay in the Palace for quarters.

Rose had put in a request to be sent back to her reality and was waiting an answer. The Master tried to act pleased, but really, he was angry. Rose was one of the few companions who had actually managed to work with him and now, after a mere 70 hours, game over.

* * *

After approximately a week, the news finally came in. Rose was allowed to return to her world. The scientists had identified her world and were going to send her through.  
She chose the destination as UNIT headquarters on early 21st century Earth, thinking that if anyone knew the Doctor's location, they would.

Rose was ecstatic about returning to the Doctor, but the matter of the Dragon didn't stop nagging her. The Time Lords said that "the threat would be dealt with accordingly" but when and how?  
She thought that since she was going through tonight, she'd never know.

Man, was she wrong.


	18. Author's Note

**I'm sorry to tell you that I've lost interest in this particular story and will not be continuing it. If anyone wants to(which I seriously doubt), just PM me. To those readers who sticked around til here, I'll give you a brief explanation of what I had planned for the story.**

* * *

*"Toaster Is Broken" refers to the Doctor and the Master being screwed up. Toaster is my made-up name for the two(slash fans can use it in their fanfics if they like)

*The Master was a teenage Ninth Doctor(with an obsession with pears instead of bananas) while the Doctor was an older Roger Delgado Master.

*The bubbling sound was the equivalent of the whooshing sound of the regular TARDIS.

*The Master honestly had no idea what Bad Wolf was and took Rose on originally for entertainment. He grew extremely attached to her as time went on.

*My favourite invention, the Kaled water tanks were a "what if the Daleks were good guys"(who were being manipulated by the Doctor).

*The "Victorian man" who is seen by Rose in Chapter 5 is an echo of the Eighth Master. The fellow with the long-scarf is of course, the Fourth Master. Funny how the Roger Delgado Doctor seems to have survived all this time, but the Master has regenerated so much.

*I never figured out what or who the Dragon was. At first, I thought bounty hunter, then I thought an evil Jack Harkness(who is a bounty hunter) and finally... I have no clue.

*The dematerialization circuit constantly breaking down was caused by the Dragon. Though I have no idea why he tried to roast the TARDIS earlier.

*The design of Barcelona(the endless skyscrapers, the green bubbly room) was based on Wonderland from the 2009 Syfy miniseries.

*The conclusion of Chapter 14 was originally going to lead to the Master using the various tools and gadgets he has to come up with some kind of genius plan to fight the Dragon. I suck at keeping promises.

*The Master's desire to uncover mysteries because he is so infinitely curious(kinda like Smeagol) should be used in a better story.

*What the Master meant by "going back in" in Chapter 15 is that since the Dragon can follow them, the only logical solution is to defeat him at where they are now.

*The Master was going to regenerate into the Tenth Master. Some genuine romance may have blossomed between him and Rose.

*At near the end, the Tenth Doctor(our guy) would finally have returned to Pete's World to bring Rose back. This and some science blah-blah would have caused the subconscious memories of losing Rose to go into the psyche of the younger Master who would subsequently blame this variation of the Doctor of taking something from him(hence causing the rivalry between the Time Lords in this universe).

* * *

**I know I'm not the best fanfic writer in the world, not even close. I have a tendency of just making stuff too big, adding too many variables and characters and concepts yet bringing little substance.**

**Now run along, you've got better stories to read. Try Complicated by thePlotThinens, that's a fan-tastic Nine/Rose series 1 rewrite with lots of emotion and honest to god effort put into it.**

**End of the story, have fun, bye-bye!**


End file.
